The Jets offense is getting a little extra help for the stretch run.
Tom Moore, the longtime Colts offensive coordinator who became an offensive consultant to the Jets this season, will stay with the team for the rest of the season instead of heading home to South Carolina and sharing his thoughts in a less immediate fashion.
Moore was in the booth during the Redskins game, giving his expertise to Brian Schottenheimer and helping him look good as the team posted 34 points.
Moore's biggest job in camp was working on red zone efficiency, a huge problem in the last two seasons for the Jets. His work has paid off as the Jets score a higher percentage of touchdowns in the red zone than any other team in the league.
The problem is that they don't get many opportunities to show off this newfound skill near the end zone because the offense fails to move the ball with any consistency. Complaints about Schottenheimer's work have existed since he called his first play, but they have crested this season as the offense has spent large portions of almost every game unable to move the ball at all.
When Rex Ryan announced Wednesday that Moore's role was growing, it was impossible to ignore a feeling that the move hinted at a need to do things to boost the offense that Schottenheimer wasn't capable of doing. Such is life when you rank 26th in the league in total offense.
Those hints, naturally, lead to thoughts that the Jets were keeping Moore around as a way to lessen Schottenheimer's control over the offense. Those questions were addressed shortly after the announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon.
Moore was quick to reject suggestions that asking him to stay around has anything to do with the team taking a negative view of the job done by Schottenheimer this season. Ryan echoed those statements.
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"The perception is completely false if that’s it. I have great confidence in Brian. This is just a thing that helps. You get a guy with this kind of experience, how could it not help your football team?"
Given the fact that the Jets have already extended Schottenheimer's contract, there's not any reason to doubt the veracity of what Ryan said on Wednesday. True as that may be, it does nothing to lessen a truth learned in businesses around the world.
You don't ask consultants to take a larger role when you're totally thrilled with what's going on in the home office.
Asking for help is never a bad thing, especially when you get to a point where there's a really fine line between success and failure.
If Moore helps the Jets stay on the right side of that line, that's a good thing for Schottenheimer even if it creates a perception that the offensive coordinator isn't capable of running an offense all by himself.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
